The reason why criminals often avoid bank accounts is obvious.If you're a drug dealer,money launderer,terrorist,etc the last thing you want is for the police to be able to track your activities.
Although the story doesn't offer proof that the guy is a criminal,I think it's quite reasonable to suspect that he is.
I do think,however,that in a situation like this the guy should be able to go to court,give a plausible explanation of where he got the money and why he was carrying so much cash and,if his story checks out,he could get it back.
According to the story, all of that happened in this case except the part about getting his money back.
Today's cash is possibly more traceable than many bank accounts, there's so much technology and little tricks built into it. The magnetic strip, for example, isn't just for ATMs -- it creates a cumulative field that can be detected in large bundles like the one this guy was found with.
I don't care what I suspect, or you suspect, or anyone suspects. Was the guy deprived of his propety? Yes. Did he receive due process of law in that regard? No. Does the Supreme Law of the Land say that taking money in such fashion is illegal. You betcha. Does that make the people who took and and refuse to give it back anything other than thieves? I don't see how, unless their level of armament ups their crime to robbery.
That is totally backwards. He presented evidence that he had no criminal history. It's not his burden to prove he's innocent, but the state/feds' burden to prove he's guilty. The only thing he's guilty of is carrying money in a cooler.
I haven't read the entire case, but from the article posted, the guy isn't tied to drugs or other crimes. Obviosuly he didn't show up on the NCIC.
Again if I have a bank debit card that gives me access to $124K, does that make me a criminal? What if I decide to put $20 a week under the carpet of my car trunk and eventually that amounts to $100K. There are no laws, that I'm aware of, that prohibit having any amount of cash on you at any given time. yes you might have to account for the source of the cash, which this fellow did.
If I want to cash all my paychecks and put the cash in the trunk of my car, that is now a felony because it is over some un-discolose amount set by the feds as "suspicious"? It's not about carrying the cash, it's about being able to trace the cash. The government preferes electronic transactions they can trace.
in a situation like this the guy should be able to go to court,give a plausible explanation
He did. He still lost.
Carrying money, no matter how much, is not illegal. So they made the money itself the criminal in order to take it! From now on I'm going to discard the term "dollars" and do all my business in "felons".
I can't believe I paid eight felons for a couple of burgers and a large freedom fries this evening!